Love for Free
by Angel Weasel-Woman
Summary: AUish Wandering the streets at night, Macavity runs across a pair of abandoned queen kittens that refuse to leave him alone. And now, “Daddy Macky”, must find a way to keep his new charges from driving him completely insane!
1. Kittens

In a cardboard box shoved up to the side of a tall building with the words **LOVE FOR FREE** painted on one side, a litter of small kittens played with each other, mewled at passing strangers, cried for their mother, stared blankly into the space just in front of the left corner, and all around looked cute.

Passing by, a little boy with raven black hair noticed the kittens and gasped. Running over, he picked up one of the mewling kittens and cuddled it. Walking up behind him, a brown haired teen noticed the mewling ball of fluff in the boy's hands and rolled his eyes. After a quick pleading, the two boys left, a kitten now snuggled in the younger's hands.

And so it went like that for the rest of the day, children and adults picking up the kittens and taking them home until the moon hung high and only two kits remained.

One of them, a soft red and black splotched on a white body with a little bob of a tail and emerald eyes, blinked and came out of her corner-induced trance. Glancing around, she noticed that all but one of her littermates were missing. Getting to her paws, she padded over to the only other kit.

"Where everybuddy gow?" she questioned, stumbling over her own paws and falling after a few steps.

The other, pure white all over her body with only a slight hint of black and red coloring at the very tips of her ears and long tail that would eventually fade, looked at her with impossibly deep blue eyes.

"They all went away. Didn't you notice?"

The calico, who had sat up and was busy scratching at one black ear, little pink tongue poking out of her mouth and eyes closed tight, paused and blinked at her.

"Wha?"

The white shorthair hung her head sadly, giving up. "Never mind," she mumbled before placing her paws on the rim of the box and peering out. "Wonder where everyone went…" she murmured to herself, seeing no more humans passing along the streets.

Suddenly, a shiver ran down her spine and she stiffened. Sticking her pink nose in the air, she sniffed, taking in the heavier air. Sitting in the box, the calico mewled and pressed herself into her sister.

"M'cold," she whined. "An' is gonna rain soon…"

The white one looked at her and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't rain for a while ye-"

_KRASSHH!!_

A flash of light.

And the sky fell.

Immediately getting drenched, the calico looked at her sister.

Looked at the sky.

Looked back to her sister.

"Mebby you shoul' stop talkin'."

The other's ears drooped.

"Yeah, maybe."

Fruitlessly attempting to shake to water from her coat, the shorthair dropped back to the bottom of the box and immediately felt her sister press herself against her.

"Cold," she whined again.

Lightly pawing at the littler one's ear, she tried to give a comforting purr. "Don't worry -"

"I dun like it when you say that."

She smiled and playfully batted the smaller's muzzle. "I'm _trying_ to say, we'll get out of this box and get somewhere dry."

"Where's 'somewhere dry'?"

"… I don't know. Somewhere not here."

Glancing around the box, she looked at her sister. "Here's what I need you to do: when I say so, we'll both run at the wall, k?"

The other nodded vigorously.

"Ok…" she took a few steps back. "And… _Now_!" Springing forward, she rammed herself into one of the cardboard walls only to bounce back and roll to her sister's feet as she sat there, watching.

"Why didn't you go with me?!"

"You din' say 'so'."

She groaned.

Getting back to her paws, she looked at her sister again. "One more time." She readied herself and so did her sister. "Ok… And… _N-So_!"

She ran at the wall.

Her sister ran at the wall.

_KRSSHHHT!! _

The soggy box ripped in half, sending the two kittens to the ground. Blinking in confusion, she looked about and saw her sister at the _other_ end of the ruined box, getting to her paws and padding over.

"You were supposed to go on _this_ side so we could tip the box over."

"You din' tell me."

She groaned again.

"Well… At least we're out of there." She looked at her sister. "Now let's look for 'somewhere dry'."

"Yay!" the little one cheered as they began to trek through the city. "'Somewhere dry'!"

Padding through the city, the kittens managed to find some tipped over trashcans with the lids slightly opened just enough to allow the kittens in but not the rain or too much cold. Bounding inside, the two curled up close together, grooming each other to the best of their abilities without separating from each other.

Curling about each other tighter, the kits were about to fall asleep, the sound of padding pawsteps drifted across their ears. Opening their eyes, they peeked out of the trashcan and noticed a large ginger wirehair pacing down the sidewalk. Standing, they were about to leave their, now cozy, refuge to greet this strange tom, when the sky lit up and thunder rolled.

At the flash and roar, the wirehair twitched like he wanted to jump but couldn't and increased his pace into a fast lope. Stumbling out of the trashcan and back into the rain, the kittens attempted to call for the tom, but over the next clap of thunder and the pounding rain, they could barely hear themselves. So, they did the next thing that came to mind.

They followed him.

Down twisting and turning alleyways the kittens followed, trying as hard as they could not to loose the tom. Finally, he came to pause just outside a large empty warehouse. He looked ready to take a step, but stopped. As he just stood there, the kittens padded forward.

All of a sudden, the ginger tom leapt at them, golden eyes flashing…

First part done.

Macavity: *just sorta there for no real reason* Why must you write this?

Teazer and Angel: *look at him*

Angel: How'd you get here?

Macavity: *shrug*

Angel: … Ah well. And I must write this because it is cute.

Macavity: *makes a face* I don't think it is.

Teazer: *sticks tongue out at him* Oi tink it's cute.

Macavity: *grumbles something*

Angel: *decides to ignore them* Well, this is it for the prologue. I don't own CATS, but the calico is mine and the white one is my oneesan's. Till next time!


	2. Macavity

Landing just before them, the tom snarled, sharp fangs bared, unnaturally long claws unsheathed.

The kittens just stared for a few seconds.

Then the calico reached up and poked the tom (who had stopped snarling and was now engaged in a staring contest with the white one) in the nose falling backwards and giggling.

The other two broke their staring contest to look at the calico.

Looking at the kittens, the ginger tom growled at them, "What are you two doing here?"

The calico sat up. "We're wet an' cold," she said, stating the blatantly obvious. "And we wanna be warm an' dry."

"And you come to me?" He narrowed his eyes and showed his fangs once more. "Do you not know who I am?"

"No," the kittens coursed, causing him to nearly fall over. Regaining his composure, he drew himself up and looked down at the kittens.

"I am the most feared. I am the shadow that lurks in the dark. I am your worst fear -"

The calico gasped and he smirked.

"You're a big 'isimbudyd-ed hand coming to hurt me?!"

He fell over.

Scrambling back to his paws, he shouted, "No! I'm Macavity!"

"Macavity?" she questioned, scrunching up her face in thought. "Soun's like a mouth 'isease."

His ears drooped and he snarled. "I am _not_ a mouth disease! I am the Napoleon of Crime!"

From the other kitten, he head a snort of laughter escape her and his ears drooped even more. With a growl, he slashed at her, but the kitten leaned backwards, easily avoiding the blow.

Seething with anger, Macavity turned and made to leave when he felt something bat at his tail. Glaring over his shoulder, he saw the (most likely) mentally deficient calico staring at his tail with the utmost concentration, rear in the air and wriggling, bobtail sticking strait up, tongue sticking out slightly, paws kneading the ground.

Suddenly, she pounced and he swished his tail out of the way, smirking at the surprised look on her face as she crashed into the ground. Again, she readied herself and pounced and again he flicked away his tail. From the other side, the white kitten bounced up and batted his tail, too. With a smirk, he raised his tail just out of the two's reaches.

Pouting at the fact that couldn't reach his tail, the calico settled for tackling her sister and playfully biting her ear. Ignoring the tail all together, the kits began to play fight, mewling and giggling happily.

Watching the two, Macavity rolled his eyes and turned to his hideout when a flash and a roar split the night air. Jumping, the wirehair bolted inside the warehouse, the two kittens out of his mind.

Inside the warehouse, he sighed, glad to be out of that horrible rain. Shaking the water from his fur, he made his way to a pile of wooden crates and packing foam and lay down, washing out his fur as best as possible, wincing each time the thunder clapped.

Once he was dry as he was going to get, he curled up and closed his eyes, planning to sleep out the storm when a soft mewl echoed throughout the warehouse. Opening his eyes once again, he looked up, frowning.

"Hello?" the mewl echoed. "Are you there?"

"Mouth 'isease? I'm not tryin' ta be mean, I jus' dun a-member your name!"

He growled. What were they doing in here? Standing, he slunk to his entrance, seeing the two kittens shaking the water from their fur and looking around. Frowning, he leapt at them from the shadows, landing just before them. Looking down at them, he bared his teeth and claws.

"What are you doing in here?" he hissed.

Undaunted, the calico spoke, "We're wet an' cold. Is dry in here." She padded forward and rubbed against his front legs. "An' you're warm."

He continued to snarl at them, but they continued to stare at him. Finally, he turned abruptly and started back to his bed. After a few paces, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the two kits following him.

"You will stay here," he said. "For one night only. You will then leave and not tell a soul about this place." Reaching the crates, he placed his paws on the rim of one and nosed through the contents. Pulling out a roll of bubble wrap, he dragged it to the ground and nudged it open enough for the kittens. "That is where you will sleep."

The kittens inspected the material and the white one gently pawed at it. Placing a bit of pressure on one of the air pockets, it exploded with a loud _pop!_ sending the two into giggles. Happily, they began to paw at the wrap, _pop_-ing and giggling and Macavity curled up on his own packing foam, rolling his eyes at the kittens. Closing his eyes, he attempted to block out the popping and sleep.

"Hey!" one of them, presumably the calico again, cried. "If you step on 'em they go _poppy_ more!"

_P-p-p-p-pop! P-p-pop-op! Pop-op-op-pp-op-pop! _

Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

He stood and walked over to the kits, placed a paw on both of their backs and pushed so they were both lying down.

"There! Now sleep!"

Releasing them from his grim, he curled up in his bedding again and closed his eyes. Now that the annoying popping had halted, he managed to quickly drift into a sleep, full of dreams of the past and of its pain.

Shifting again, the white kitten opened her eyes and noticed he sister staring blankly into space. Sighing, she glanced at Macavity. He didn't seem so bad no matter how hard he tried (and he did – he really did) and now he was all alone. Giving her sister a kick to get her attention, she motioned to the ginger tom and without a word, the kits quietly left their bubble wrap bed and crept to the ginger tom. Curling next to the warm tom, the white kitten gave a content purr and relaxed into a sweet sleep.

First chapter done, and all rejoiced.

Macavity and Teazer: *dully* Yay.

Angel: *sticks tongue out at them* Anyway, I don't own CATS, but I do own one of the kitten and my sister owns the other. Till next time!


End file.
